Isle of Man TT star Michael Dunlop tests BMW M1000RR at Kirkistown race track in Co Down
Michael Dunlop was on track at Kirkistown in Co Down on Wednesday testing a BMW M1000RR.
The record 29-time Isle of Man TT winner has raced 1000cc Honda Fireblade machinery for the past two seasons but seems poised to make the switch to the German manufacturer for the 2025 season.
Dunlop has strong ties to BMW going back to 2014, when he famously won the Senior TT on the Hawk Racing BMW, 75 years after the marque’s last victory in the historic race when Georg Meier emerged victorious.
The Ballymoney man also won the Superbike and Superstock races in the same year on S1000RR machinery.
Two years later, Dunlop clinched a Superbike and Senior TT double on a Hawk Racing prepared BMW S1000RR in 2016, setting the first sub-17 minute lap of the 37.73-mile Mountain Course and the first 133mph average lap.
Another BMW success followed in 2018, when Dunlop claimed the Superbike TT spoils for Northern Ireland team TAS Racing in emotional circumstances following the tragic death of his team-mate, Manx rider Dan Kneen, in an incident in qualifying.
He later rode a BMW M1000RR for the TAS team at Armoy in 2021 and won the Open and ‘Race of Legends’ Superbike events, setting a then lap record for the three-mile Co Antrim course at 106.945mph.
The 35-year-old will ride a BMW M1000RR in the Endurance World Championship for Team LPR Poland in April at the iconic Le Mans 24 Hours race.
Dunlop followed a similar path in 2024, competing at Le Mans on a Honda Fireblade for French outfit TRT27 in the Superstock class as part of his preparations for the major road races.
The Ulsterman recorded his fastest ever TT lap at 135.970mph in 2024 – a new Superbike TT record and the quickest lap of last year’s event – as he battled back to finish fourth on corrected time after seeing a commanding lead wiped out when he was forced to stop to adjust an incorrectly fastened visor.
His last victory in the Superbike class at the TT was achieved on the Hawk Racing Honda in 2023.
Dunlop also appears set for a change in the Supersport class after testing a Milwaukee/MD Racing Ducati Panigale V2 machine at Jerez in Spain in January and racing the Italian bike at the Daytona 200 in the United States earlier this month, finishing ninth.
He has relied on an Italian Paton in the Supertwin class at the TT since 2018, winning five races.